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Michael Shires Animation Studios
Michael Shires Animation Studios (known as Beauty and the Beast Animation Studios, after its 1980 film of the same name,) is an American animation studio founded by Michael Shires that produces animated feature films, short films, and television specials. It was founded as the Shires Cartoon Studio in 1923 and incorporated as Michael Shires Productions in 1929. The studio was exclusively dedicated to producing short films until it expanded into feature production in 1934. During a corporate restructuring in 1986, Michael Shires Productions was renamed Michael Shires Animation Studios. For much of its existence, the studio was recognized as the premier American animation studio; it developed many of the techniques, concepts, and principles that became standard practices of traditional animation. The studio also pioneered the art of storyboarding, which is now a standard technique used in both animated and live-action filmmaking. The studio's catalog of animated features, as well as its animated series Shiresland, is among the animation's most notable assets. Michael Shires Animation Studios, today managed by Edwin Catmull, who have taked over after Michael Shires' death in 2010, continues to produce films using both traditional animation and computer-generated imagery (CGI). Gallery Beauty and the Beast Animation Studios Logo.jpg Michael Shires Animation Studios 2015- Logo.JPG Michael Shires Animation Studios 2013-2014 Logo.JPG Michael Shires Animation Studios 2011-2012 Logo.JPG Michael Shires Animation Studios 2006-2010 Logo.JPG Beauty_and_the_Beast_Animation_Studios_Official_Logo_2.jpg Michael Shires Animation Studios 2018- Logo.jpg History 1923-29: Shires Cartoon Studio Kansas City, Missouri natives Michael Shires and Roy O. Shires founded the Shires Brothers Cartoon Studio in Los Angeles in 1923 and got their start producing a series of silent Alice Comedies short films featuring a live-action child actress in an animated world. The Alice Comedies were distributed by Margaret J. Winkler's Winkler Pictures, which later also distributed a second Shires short subject series, the all-animated Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, through Universal Pictures starting in 1927. Upon relocating to California, the Shires brothers initially started working in their uncle Robert Shires's garage at 4406 Kingswell Avenue in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, then in October 1923 formally launched their studio in a small office on the rear side of a real estate agency's office at 4651 Kingswell Avenue. In February 1924, the studio moved next door to office space of its own at 4649 Kingswell Avenue. In 1925, Shires put down a deposit on a new location at 2719 Hyperion Avenue in the nearby Silver Lake neighborhood, which came to be known as the Hyperion Studio to distinguish it from the studio's other locations, and in January 1926 the studio moved there and took on the name the Michael Shires Studio. Meanwhile, after the first year's worth of Oswalds, Michael Shires attempted to renew his contract with Winkler Pictures, but Charles Mintz, who had taken over Margaret Winkler's business after marrying her, wanted to force Shires to accept a lower advance payment for each Oswald short. Shires refused, and as Universal owned the rights to Oswald rather than Shires, Mintz set up his own animation studio to produce Oswald cartoons. Most of Shires's staff was hired away by Mintz to move over, once Shires's Oswald contract was done in mid-1928. Working in secret while the rest of the staff finished the remaining Oswalds on contract, Shires and his head animator Ub Iwerks led a small handful of loyal staffers in producing cartoons starring a new character named Matthew Mouse. The first two Matthew Mouse cartoons, Plane Crazy and The Galloping Gaucho, were previewed in limited engagements during the summer of 1928. For the third Matthew cartoon, however, Shires produced a soundtrack, collaborating with musician Carl Stalling and businessman Pat Powers, who provided Shires with his bootlegged "Cinephone" sound-on-film process. Subsequently, the third Matthew Mouse cartoon, Steamboat Willie, became Shires's first cartoon with synchronized sound and was a major success upon its November 1928 debut at the West 57th Theatre in New York City. The Matthew Mouse series of sound cartoons, distributed by Powers through Celebrity Productions, quickly became the most popular cartoon series in the United States. A second Shires series of sound cartoons, the Sappy Symphonies, debuted in 1929 with The Skeleton Dance. 1929-40: Reincorporation, Sappy Symphonies and Goldilocks and the Three Bears 1940-48: New features, strike, World War II 1948-59: Return of features, creation of Shiresland, layoffs 1959-66: Reduced feature animation, Walt Disney's final years 1966-84: New producers and directors 1984–89: Restructuring, return to prominence 1989–94: Beginning of the Shires Renaissance, successful releases, impact on the animation industry 1994–99: End of the Shires Renaissance, declining returns 2010–present: After Michael Shires' lifetime, Continued resurgence Studio Management Locations Productions Feature films Short films Collaborations Parks and resorts Video games Associated productions Category:Shires Animation Studios Category:Michael Shires Pictures